


Her happiness

by Carzekiel101



Series: Pregnancy series [4]
Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-26
Updated: 2020-04-26
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:00:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,832
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23857246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Carzekiel101/pseuds/Carzekiel101
Summary: Movie night at the Kingdom - or not. Continuation of "Blame the weather", "Not a secret anymore" and "Reunion".
Relationships: Ezekiel & Carol Peletier
Series: Pregnancy series [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1758478
Kudos: 5





	Her happiness

**Her happiness**

Disclaimer: They`re not mine. Not making any profit with them. Just having fun.

„Dammit!“

Ezekiel and Carol look up to the projection room of the Kingdom`s theater, exchanging a look. They have been busy decorating the stage area for the upcoming movie night. Today was something special. It was Halloween and they were trying their best to turn the room into some sorts of magic woods, creating the right atmosphere for the movie that was going to be shown.

In the world they were living in, something like this may seem strange, but it has always been Ezekiel`s intention to keep life as normal as possible for the people living in the Kingdom, especially for the children. He considered celebrating holidays as something important to keep his people happy and he always put a lot of effort into making these days special and enjoyable for everyone.

The Kingdom had a good harvest of pumpkins this year, good enough that Ezekiel decided they could afford sparing some for the children to carve faces into, giving them something fun to do. Now these pumpkins were sitting around the stage together with some old props from the theater`s storage as well as various animals and magic creatures made out of paper mâché. There were spiders, rabbits and unicorns. The most beautiful one, however – at least as far as Carol and Ezekiel were concerned – was a very realistic looking tiger that their son Henry had made some time ago.

Now they both look at Jerry, who comes marching down the middle aisle, a sour look on his face. Sighing, Ezekiel turns to his wife.

“This can`t mean anything good. – Jerry, what`s the matter?”

The big man comes to a halt before them.

“Your Majesties, I`m sorry. I`m afraid there`s not going to be a movie tonight.”

“What? Why?”

Carol takes a step forward, hands on her hips.

“Well, I was just preparing everything for tonight and realized that the projector bulb isn`t working. It must have burned out” Jerry says, holding up the item in question.

Ezekiel steps down from the stage, carefully helping Carol down as well. At 26 weeks pregnant, her belly already has a considerable size. He takes the bulb from his friend, recognizing immediately that it has become useless.

“Why don`t you change it?” Carol asks, sitting down in one of the chairs in the front row of the theater.

Ezekiel and Jerry exchange a look.

“It was the last one. No more movies anytime soon.”

“Well, then –“ Carol stops briefly, grimacing as her unborn son kicks her ribs repeatedly “what do we do now?”

Ezekiel takes a look around the theater, considering her question, then finally shrugs his shoulders.

“We move everything outside. Decorate the pavilion instead. Have a campfire. Tell the kids some stories.”

“Great idea, boss. I`ll take care of that!” Jerry moves past them, his usual smile back in place.

Carol struggles to get up from the chair again, stretching out her hands to Ezekiel for help. He pulls her up, taking advantage to place a kiss on her lips in the process, wrapping his arms around her.

“You know that Henry will be disappointed, don`t you? He loves movie nights.”

“Yes, I know. I will talk to him.”

Smiling up at him, Carol offers her lips for another quick kiss.

“Good. I`m going home. This one –“ she points at her belly “is demanding a nap. And I got some baking to do.”

Glancing over his shoulder she adds “You should help Jerry. Looks like he`s trying to carry everything out at once.”

Chuckling, Ezekiel lets her go, turning around to help his friend.

They have almost all the work done when Henry stops by on his way to weapons training class. His favorite weapon is still the stick and he spends lots of his time training with it, but his parents insisted that he learns handling different types of weapons. Since they ran out of bullets and Alexandria wasn`t up for trading anymore, guns have become useless, but there were still many other ways to defend oneself. Carol herself has begun training with bow and arrow. She had a talent for it but currently took a break because of her growing belly.

“Hey Dad, what are you doing?”

Henry comes over, looking questioningly at his father who is just now carrying the Shiva replica outside.

“I thought you were decorating the stage?”

Ezekiel hands the tiger over to Jerry, then steps to his son and puts an arm around his shoulder.

“We did. Unfortunately, we had to change our plans for tonight, though. See, we need a special bulb to run the projector. The last one we had just burned out. So now we can`t –“

“See a movie anymore” Henry finishes. “Never again?”

Ezekiel doesn`t want to lie to him, but he doesn`t want to completely crash his son`s hopes, either.

“Not unless we somehow manage to find another bulb. I suppose it`s possible. But not very likely. At least not in the near future. I`m sorry, my boy.”

Ezekiel hates to see the look of disappointment cross Henry`s face, although he quickly tries to hide it.

“We`ll have ourselves a good time anyway tonight, okay? Your mom`s making some of those pumpkin pies that you like so much. I hear there`s also chocolate cookies from Nabila.”

Henry gives him a small smile.

“Okay, Dad. I have to go to class now.”

Ezekiel watches as he walks away but after a few steps Henry turns back to his father again.

“Nice work with the decorations, Dad. The kids will love it.”

Then Henry runs off, hurrying not to be late for his class. Ezekiel turns around, taking a moment to admire their work. It did look good and he truly hoped that Henry was right.

As he walks into their kitchen a couple hours later, Ezekiel stops dead in his tracks, momentarily speechless at the sight before him. The kitchen is a total mess, bowls with different ingredients scattered everywhere, flour spilled on the counter and the floor as well as some rather burned looking pies. The place looks even worse than the first time Henry tried to surprise them with pancakes for Carol`s birthday.

His wife is standing in the middle of the kitchen, hands on her hips, a cute frown on her face. She has tied her hair back in a ponytail, some loose strands curling around her flour-stained face. She is beautiful and Ezekiel can`t help the happy grin from spreading on his face at her sight. Before he can decide on something safe to say in the situation, Carol points a finger at him.

“Don`t laugh! This is all your fault!”

She plumps down on a nearby chair, purposely showing her belly in his direction, pouting. Ezekiel bites back the laugh that threatens to come out. Instead, he walks over to her and kneels in front of her on the floor, putting his hands on her belly, feeling his son kicking inside.

“Has he been giving you a hard time, my Queen?”

Carol relaxes under his touch as does the baby inside of her.

“How do you do that? He`s been kicking like crazy all day long.”

Ezekiel keeps caressing her belly, his look wandering around the kitchen.

“How did this happen?”

Carol shrugs her shoulders. “He calmed down a little and I kind of dozed off. Woke up at the smell of the burning pies. I hurried to get them out, but – well, I`m just not very good at moving fast currently. Some things were in the way and just when I had the pies out your son started kicking again. Hard. I dropped them.”

This time Ezekiel does laugh out loud. Carol sticks her tongue out at him.

“Glad you think this is funny. Because you`re the one who will be cleaning up.”

Still chuckling, Ezekiel stands up again. “That`s what I thought.”

He pulls Carol to her feet, wrapping his arms around her.

“Don`t worry, baby, I`ll take care of this. Why don`t you go and take a shower in the meantime?” he suggests, knowing that a nice hot shower would help to relax Carol.

“Mmh, thanks, that sounds great.”

Ezekiel places a soft kiss on her lips, but before he can move away, Carol grabs his face, deepening the kiss. After a moment she pulls away reluctantly, but not very far, her lips still touching his as she speaks, hands creeping under his shirt.

“Why don`t you come and join me?”

Ezekiel closes his eyes, resting his forehead against hers. He groans inwardly, considering his options. There`s nothing he would love more than take her up on her offer. With a deep sigh he takes her hands in his, stopping her seductive actions and tilting his head says “I have to clean this up, remember? Henry`s going to come home any minute. And we need to get ready for tonight. The kids will be waiting.”

The pout is back on Carol`s face and Ezekiel stops himself from rolling his eyes at her. That certainly wouldn`t be a smart move now. God, that woman was driving him crazy sometimes. Grabbing her chin softly he whispers “I`ll make it up to you later. I promise.”

She captures his lips again, hands fisted in his shirt. She`s not ready to give up on her goal.

“What the hell happened here?”

Henry`s voice makes them jump apart. They look guiltily at their son who is standing in the open doorway, staring at his parents and the mess all around with an incredulous look on his face. Ezekiel is struggling for words, looking at his wife for help. Carol feigns innocence, once again shrugging her shoulders.

“I need a shower.”

With that, she passes her son, giving him a quick peck on his cheek, leaving her boys behind to deal with the mess she created.

Later that evening Carol sits with Nabila in the pavilion, both women wrapped in soft blankets to protect them from the cold. Almost the entire Kingdom is gathered around the huge campfire that Ezekiel and Jerry stacked up in the morning, listening to the King telling the story of Alice in Wonderland. That was the movie they`d been planning to show tonight, so Ezekiel thought it adequate to stick to the plan and just tell the story instead.

Ezekiel was in his element, his deep melodic voice filling the night air. Carol deeply admires his talent to captivate his audience, draw them under his spell, children and adults alike. She has listened to many of his speeches in their time together, always wishing she`d had the chance to see him act on stage as he once told her he did in his life before the dead rose.

“He`s driving me crazy.”

Nabila pulls Carol out of her thoughts. She looks at the younger woman next to her, a small frown on her face.

“Ezekiel? Why?”

Nabila shakes her head. “No, not the King. Jerry. He – he drives me crazy!” she repeats herself.

“Oh.” Carol is grinning at her friend. “That`s the hormones. Same here. I can barely keep my hands off Ezekiel. He`s just so –“

Nabila quickly interrupts her, before Carol can finish her sentence.

“No, no, no! That`s not what I`m talking about!”

The look of embarrassment on Nabila`s face makes Carol laugh out loud.

“Sorry. What were you talking about then?”

Nabila shakes her head again. “He just really gets on my nerves. He`s around me all the time, asking me if I`m okay or if I need anything. He`s barely letting me do anything at home just so I don`t exhaust myself.”

She throws her hands up in defeat. “It`s unnerving sometimes.”

Smiling, Carol reaches for Nabila`s hand, squeezing it affectionately.

“He`s excited to become a father and he cares about your well-being. And that of the baby. Appreciate it. I do. Not all men are like this. Believe me, I know.”

Nabila looks at Carol in surprise. Carol never spoke to anyone about her past other than Ezekiel. Before Nabila can say anything, they are interrupted by the King.

“Myladies! Are you enjoying the evening?”

Squeezing Carol`s hand, Nabila gets up and moves past Ezekiel, giving him a small smile.

“It was wonderful, thank you, Your Majesty.” Then she hurries down the steps, searching for her husband.

Ezekiel sits down next to Carol, looking a little bit confused as he puts his arm around his wife.

“Is something wrong?” he asks.

Carol snuggles up to him, resting her head on his shoulder.

“Not at all” she says.

Content with her answer, Ezekiel hugs her tight and together they watch their people having a good time, laughing and chatting with each other. When he realizes her trembling, Ezekiel pulls the blanket tighter around Carol.

“You`re cold. Let`s move closer to the fire, shall we?”

Carol raises her head, considering his offer for a moment, then gets up and grabs his hand, pulling him into the direction of the theater.

“I have a better idea!”

Inside, she steers him into the far-off corner of the back row of chairs. Whenever they watched a movie together in the past years, these have been their favorite seats. Lacing their fingers together, Ezekiel reclines in his chair, exhaling a deep breath.

“I`m gonna miss sitting here with you” he says.

“Yeah, well, I don`t think we`d be doing this much anyway in the near future, baby and all” Carol replies, stroking her belly.

He chuckles, pressing a kiss to the back of her hand.

“But I`ll miss it, too.”

“Do you remember the first time we watched a movie together?” Ezekiel asks after a moment of silence.

Carol does. Vividly. It was shortly after they started their relationship. There never had been a moment of doubt or hesitation for either of them. Once they made their decision, they knew it was forever. In one of their first nights together Carol had let Ezekiel in on her biggest secret, the nightmare that had been her marriage. It had felt good to talk about it and even better to have someone hold and comfort her, someone who made her feel loved like never before in her life.

After that night Ezekiel had vowed to himself that he would do everything to make Carol happy, that he would spoil her and show her what love really was about. Late one night he`d dragged her out to the theater, surprising her with dozens of candles, chocolate and some old, romantic movie. Carol couldn`t remember which one because she`d been way more interested in the man by her side than the movie. They`d ended up having sex in the exact same chair that Ezekiel was now sitting in.

Thinking about that night made Carol remember her husband`s promise from earlier that day. Shifting a little in her seat, she reaches for his face, pulling him in for a kiss. She loves kissing him, the way his lips move against hers, the soft scratch of his beard on her skin, the teasing of his tongue as he demands entrance to her mouth. She opens up willingly, letting his taste fill her senses.

Without breaking the kiss, Carol struggles to get to her feet and with Ezekiel`s help somehow manages to slide onto his lap. It`s not really comfortable but neither of them cares. One hand placed on her back to support her, Ezekiel wastes no time and slides his other hand inside her pants, pushing her panties out of the way as best as possible.

Carol gives up on her task to get his belt open when she feels his fingers on her naked flesh. They slide through her wetness, spreading her open, his thumb circling her clit over and over. She wraps her arms around his shoulders, her hands fisting in his dreads, her body succumbing to the pleasure he`s giving her. Ezekiel knows she`s close when she starts rocking her lower body against his hand. He swiftly pushes two of his fingers inside her, while he presses the heel of his hand against her clit, sending her over the edge. Carol sags against him, breathing hard.

“Thanks. That was nice” she pants in his ear.

Grinning, Ezekiel presses a kiss to her temple. After a moment of catching her breath, Carol sits up and reaches for his belt again.

“Your turn now” she murmurs, but Ezekiel stops her, shaking his head, gently pushing her off his lap. Standing up as well, he reaches out to fix her rumpled clothing.

“We`ve been in here for too long already. Let`s not push our luck.”

Carol`s eyes dart to the open doors of the theater`s screening room, then back to Ezekiel. He was right, of course, but she doesn`t like it. That adorable pout is back on her face and Ezekiel quickly leans down to kiss is away.

“I might take you up on the offer later, though” he says, waggling his eyebrows.

Laughing, Carol takes his hand and together they head back outside. When they approach the campfire, they are surprised to find most of the people gone already. Seems they really lost track of time while they were inside. One of the last persons left is Jerry, dutifully watching over the fire.

Carol is scanning the area for her son but can`t spot him. Turning to Jerry she asks “Where`s Henry?”

The big man points to the pavilion. “In there.”

Carol and Ezekiel walk over to tell Henry it`s time to go home, both laughing quietly when they find him fast asleep on the floor, wrapped in the blankets that Carol and Nabila left behind.

Turning to her husband, Carol says “You know what that means, don`t you?”

Ezekiel does. Henry isn`t quite a child anymore and it usually takes a lot to wear him out, but once he is asleep it`s not easy to wake him up again. Ezekiel climbs up the steps and picks his son up off the ground, then carries him home, Carol following closely behind. They put Henry into bed, kissing him goodnight. The boy never wakes for a second, just snuggles deeper into his pillows, instinctively knowing he`s safe in his parent`s presence.

In their bedroom, Carol flops down on the mattress, holding her feet up for Ezekiel to take off her boots. He does and after toeing off his own, joins her on the bed, stretching out next to her, head propped up on his elbow. Carol turns to her side, reaching out to caress his beard. She loves touching it, feeling its softness under her fingertips.

“Hi” she whispers, like she hasn`t seen him in a while, softly running her fingers over his lips. Ezekiel kisses her fingertips, smiling.

“Hi, beautiful.”

Carol pulls his face down to kiss him, tenderly moving her lips against his. One hand sneaks under his shirt, caressing his smooth skin. The urgency she felt earlier is gone, but she still craves to be with him, needs to feel his touch, his love. As usual, Ezekiel picks up on her mood, his mouth wandering down her jaw and neck while slowly opening the buttons of her blouse. He sits up, carefully removing her clothing bit by bit. When he is done, he stares down at her, admiring the beauty of her naked body.

Carol`s heart rate speeds up at the look on his face. Never would she have thought that she could feel this comfortable, this safe with a man, especially in such a vulnerable position, not after everything she`s been through. The depth of her trust and love for Ezekiel still surprises her sometimes. Now running her foot up his leg, she says “You`re overdressed.”

Grinning, Ezekiel tosses aside his clothes, then helps her get up on her knees so she`s facing him. They kiss leisurely, stroking each other`s bodies wherever they can reach. They are in no hurry, reveling in the intimacy they share. Carol wraps her hand around his penis, loving the feel of it, hard but silky, as he slowly thrusts into her hand. He grabs her ass, kneading the soft flesh, his other hand buried in her hair.

Their kisses get deeper, more demanding, his thrusts becoming a little more forceful, bumping the head of his penis against her belly. Groaning deep in his chest, Ezekiel pulls her closer, but Carol lets go of him, pushing against his chest. She turns in his arms and leans forward, supporting herself on her forearms.

Ezekiel kisses up and down her spine, his hardness pressed firmly against her backside. Carol`s moaning, wriggling against him. Playtime`s over. Ezekiel straightens, grabbing the pillows to stuff them underneath her, making it more comfortable for her. Carol turns her head to look at him, a sweet smile on her lips, grateful for his thoughtfulness.

He raises his eyebrows at her. “Comfy?”

She nods, slowly moving against him. He takes the hint, grabbing her ass with both hands, then enters her swiftly only to pull all the way out again. He keeps doing it, over and over, holding her still with his hands. Carol lowers her head to the mattress, hands fisting the bedsheets. He feels so good, her whole body is humming with pleasure. She is close, but he keeps her on the brink until she softly sobs his name.

Ezekiel leans forward, pressing his chest to her back and lacing their fingers together. He picks up his speed and with just a couple more thrusts pushes them both over the edge. He rolls them to their sides, arms tightly wrapped around his wife, their bodies still joined. He pulls the covers up around them, keeping them warm.

It`s been a long, eventful day and Ezekiel is almost half asleep when he hears Carol`s voice.

“I love you. Maybe I don`t say it often enough, but I do. With all my heart. You`re the best that ever happened to me. You`re my happiness.”

Ezekiel kisses her shoulder, then whispers into her ear. “Don`t worry, I know, my Queen. You make me feel loved every day. I`m proud to be your husband.”

Content, they fall asleep in each other`s arms, safe in the knowledge of their love. The world wasn`t perfect, but it was for them. A perfect fairytale.


End file.
